Volunteering in India

Volunteer Summer was definitely a program that I would recommend to a friend. The way that I chose the program was because I wanted to work with women's empowerment in India, and that was definitely part of what the group did. The group was also extremely diverse. It ranged from individuals who were very observant of their Judaism, as well as individuals who were very aware of social justice issues. Therefore, if an individual is well-versed in social justice issues or is very observant, go with the expectation that you will be the teacher, and not really the student. However, I met great people, and people that I had met that summer I will definitely be friends with for the rest of my life. Also, volunteers did not have a lot of freedom on the trip. We had to constantly had to travel in groups of three, and we were not allowed to go into town without group leaders. Also, we had NO freedom to travel by ourselves on the weekends. We had to stay at the compound, so if you're expecting to travel, this is not really the trip for you. However, we did go on a couple weekend trips that were pretty fun. The living accommodations were also pretty comfortable, which is somewhat ironic, considering that we were living in a somewhat rural community. We also stayed at extremely lavish hotels which was also ironic considering the circumstances that we were surrounded by. However, the food was delicious, and I had a lot of fun. It was also an awesome way to see India, but I would definitely want to go back by myself at a later date.